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panying drawing, forming part of this specification, and in which- @reitsh ,gisten gettati @Hirn W. H. PLUME, OF NEWYORK, NY., ASSIGNOR TO HENRY DE ZAVALA,

OF SAMEPLAGE. i

Letters Patent No. 68,899, dated September 17, 1867; autedateii Septcuibelzl, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN. HATS.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY OONCERN p Be it known'that I, W. H..PLUMB, of `the city, county, and lState of New York, have invented a new and useful Hat-Lock, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the'accom- Figure 1 represents, in vertical section, 'a locking obstruction as applied to a hat, in illustration of my invention, and

Figures 2, 3, and 4, views of details constituting said locking obstruction and its key detached.

. The object of this invention is to secure the owner against 1oss,by unintentional misappropriation or theft, of his hat or other like head-cover, by applying to it an obstruction which shall impede or prevent its wear excepting at `,the will of the person to whom said headcover belongs; and the nature of the invention consists in any; suitable locking obstruction so applied to the hat as to restrain the latter from being worn till such obstruction is removed or suiciently displaced by unlocking it.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, A- represents a look-case having attached to it, by projections on pins and nuts a, an independent leg or plate, B, arranged to lie between the body C of the hat and sweatleather D, to which latter the leg B serves to secure the caseA in a raised positiouon the opposite side thereof, by the pins above referred to passing through the sweat-leather and being securedby the nuts under cover of said leather. E is a slide arranged to pass vertically through the oase A, and so as, when fully depressed,vto be locked in or with said case by a catch or tumbler, b, acted upon by a spring, c, shooting into a notch, d, of

the slide, which has projecting from it, at or nearits bottom, a branch or arm, c, Vthat being of suitable stiffness i or hardness, and, if. necessary, pointed or sharpened, operates to impede or preventthc hat being worn till the slide is unlocked by a key, F, acting on the `tumbler b, when the slide4 may be pushed upwards, as represented in red lines, fig. 1, to place the obstacles formed by the branch e out of contact with theihead, thereby allowing the hat to be worn asv if no such obstruction as here described were provided i`t.V This slide E, that may be` referred to asa locking obstruction on the inside of the hat, should have a suiflciently tight play through its case', or be otherwise provided orlconstructed, to insure its being held up when raised, yet admitting of every` facility, on drawing it down, to'lock itself` with the case, so that the applicatiouof the key is only necessary to unlock it for removal of the obstruction.

A hat-lock constructed as here represented and described may be removed when necessary, as, for instance, to change it to a new or other hat, but only at the expense of such time and trouble as would deter a thiet` in any exposed placeresorting to. It may, however, be applied so as not to be detachable, excepting bycntting or otherwise injuring tbc hat. But my invention, thus illustrated, is not restricted to any particular. form of i locking obstruction or mode ot attaching it to the hat, as it will be obvious such may be greatlyvaried, as, for

instance, a cross-bar or bars secured to the inside of the hat at their one end and locking at their other end or ends, to form a like obstruction, or, instead thereof, springs attached to opposite sides of the hat, andlocking in the middle, but springing out of the Way when unlocked, and various other contrivances may be used to a'ord substantially the same or like protection against wear of the hat, excepting with consent ot" the owner.

Inhotels and other crowdedv places'of public resort, or on board steamboats or other vehicles of travel,

where total loss by theft or taking of a wrong hat is no uncommon occurrence, this invention Vwill be found a desideratum. The llock itself may be of a. permutation characteigwhere the carrying of a key, that, lrcnvever,`

may he made to form an ornamentalappendage to the watch-guard, is objected to.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is A locking obstruction applied to the interior of the hat, operating, till unlocked and displaced orremoved, to impede or prevent the wearing of the hat, substantially as specified. ,H

W. H, PLUMB.

Witnesses:

A. Lr. CLERC, J. W. CooMs. 

